Florida is home to a fantastic array of flora and fauna. We have artichokes to zoysia grass, and armadillos to zebra mussels. And most of it flourishes at one point or another during the year. As far south as we live, we rarely get a frost, and I’ve yet to see a heavy killing frost in our particular location, partly due to our proximity to the ocean. So most things just grow. And grow.

And grow.

Mostly just the weeds.

My raised beds have a watering system on a timer. This gives them a daily dose three times a day. I was once told that the secret to growing things in Florida is….water them. I’ve set that chose to be automatic, and now, it seems I’m paying for it. Over the summer, I let my garden basically do whatever the hell it wanted to do.

I did very well with my Malabar spinach, but failed to cut back the blossoms, so it eventually died back. I expect to have a glut of Malabar seedlings in that bed next spring  though, it appears to be a VERY heavy seeder. That bed is now grass, weeds, and sweet potatoes. I’m hoping somewhere under it all is still a everglades tomato or two trying to stay alive.

Another bed, the one with all the volunteer tomatoes, has become a scratching bed for the chickens, and is becoming overgrown with sweet potatoes. In fact, three of my beds now have sweet potatoes growing in them. And two of them never had any planted in it!

Now, the beds are almost useless. Grass tall enough to bale is growing in them, or weeds that I have no use for. One has THREE avocados trees about two feet tall growing in them, another has two papaya volunteers about a foot tall each.

I’m such a slacker!

It is interesting to see what grows well with neglect. Sweet potatoes are a definite go-to in this category. I cannot get over how, well, invasive it can be if left unchecked. What will I do if every time I turn over a pitchfork full of dirt, I turn up a hand full of tasty, edible tubers? I’ll have to manage somehow….

Papayas also seem to do mighty fine with very little inputs. I just wish it were a different strain, these particular ones just aren’t tasty to me. I’ve eaten one, dehydrated a couple more, gave a couple away, and fed the rest to my chickens. Part of my bed renovation will be to remove the tree, I just don’t have a use for that particular fruit variety.

I have my work cut out for me. As I recover from surgery, and the weather breaks, and fall starts to ease the heat back a bit, I’ll be going out there to work it more. Fall starts my favorite time to garden in Florida. It’s milder days, allowing mote time outside, the air is more crisp, the insects a noit as bad, and the produce that grows is more like what I grew as a kid during the summers in West Virginia.

Like Aaron Tippon say, “You’ve got to get it started if you want to get it done”

And it’ll be nice to have another glut of fresh veggies to eat as well as to can and dehydrate…just in case.

Peace,
db

Show `em what you’re talking about, Aaron!